Students sing out against layoffs of music teachers

Value of music program's staff gets backing of 40 speakers

By Scott Waldman

Updated 7:18 am, Friday, June 7, 2013

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Albany High School students sing in the rain outside the school board meeting room to show their support for two laid off music teachers on Thursday, June 6. One of their selections was "Earth Song," by Frank Ticheli. (Scott Waldman / Times Union) less

Albany High School students sing in the rain outside the school board meeting room to show their support for two laid off music teachers on Thursday, June 6. One of their selections was "Earth Song," by Frank ... more

Students sing out against layoffs of music teachers

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Albany

Dozens of Albany High School students sang in the rain to protest the job cuts of two beloved music teachers.

Bess Zafran, 17, said the music rooms were a place of refuge at school, where she came to get strength to get through the rest of her busy schedule.

"It's comfortable place, where you're learning and growing like you would in math class," she said. "It's almost a getaway compared to the rest of the school."

Forty speakers, many of them students studying music, said the school would be weaker if half of the music department staff were eliminated. Many pointed out the district is now looking to hire four administrators, though none are at the high school.

The district will transfer a middle school music teacher to fill in for the cuts.

Classes at Hackett and Myers will be larger, but none will be eliminated, spokesman Ron Lesko said. The high school will cut some music theory classes with low enrollment and will increase the size of the music lessons from six to 10 students. The teachers were laid off because they had the least seniority in the district's music program.

In May, voters approved a $213 million budget that cut 60 positions and raised the tax levy 2.95 percent. The district has cut more than 300 jobs in the last few years to balance its books.

Diehl said the cuts were about more than her job, which could be replaced. She said any reduction in the music program would hurt the whole school because the music room is a place where students of all backgrounds come together to perform on equal ground. She was moved by the student support, which was unusually passionate even as hundreds of teachers have lost their jobs recently. "Earth Song," by Frank Ticheli was one of their tunes.

"It's very heartwarming, words cannot describe, to see their expression on how much this means," she said.

Michael Richmond, who retired a year ago after a three-decade career in the high school music program, said students need extracurricular activities like orchestra and jazz band on college applications if they want to be competitive. He told the crowd about a young man on the verge of dropping out of school, who stayed in because of bass lessons, and is now a principal. He said the district doesn't need more administrators.

"Before you turn out the lights and lock the doors, you hire teachers, you don't hire administrators." he said. "You don't cut your way to excellence."